17 Comments

Asian countries are 'coonected geographically and so it is important for all of the countries---especially the 'big' powers like China, So Korea, Australia, and Japan ------ to forge a way to co-exist peacfully . . . . . not only does it make it a safer world, but it helps smooth the multi-lateral socio-economic and trade interdependance.

If they had a meeting without talking specifically about the territorial dispute, what is the point of the meeting? The letter from Abe is not even made public so to keep people in the dark. Is this a way to save Japan’s face or that letter has no meaning?

I'm impressed. You have half the facts with half the understanding. Japan surveyed the islands prior to 1894, it's true, because they belonged to Japan all along. The treaty was simply an acknowledgement by China that the Senkakus belong to Japan. All your facts led simply to this. If a fisherman caught in a storm seeks shelter under the overhang of my roof, it does not give him the right to claim my house as his. The Senkakus belong to Japan.

Now, look into the future. If China were somehow able to ensure sovereignty over the islands, the world would be war-based for generations, with the Chinese navy then having a blue-water reach to match its imperialistic tendencies. Until Ishihara, everyone acknowledged Japan's administrative control of these islands. However, we needed Japan to have sovereignty of the islands because of the oil and gas which Japan sorely needs, having renounced nuclear energy for the most part. Consequently, we needed Ishihara to raise the issue so that China would respond and, in the process of backing down, acknowledge that Japan has sovereignty over the islands in order to explore and exploit those oil and gas fields (after all, remember where Ishihara was when he first said Tokyo would buy the islands, because that was in Washington DC where we told him what to say and would not let him leave until he said what we needed him to say).

The US needs to revitalize Japan's economy, which is moribund after two decades of stagnation. Japan cannot afford to import oil and gas at market prices and remain competitive for its products on the world stage. Consequently, we determined that Japan must have access to cheap energy in order to innovate and produce competitive goods. The answer, far ranging from Myanmar oil and gas to American Bakken oil and gas, ultimately settled on Japanese oil and gas...in the Senkaku EEZ.

Be assured, we intend economic prosperity for the region, not just for China which has been consuming more than its fair share of economic advancement during the last two decades of Japan's interminable recession. That time is over. China will back down on this issue...or we will close China down...back to dung carts and dung stoves.

@ Michikokada, who doesn't seem to understand that a burglar coming through your bedroom window is not a lover but a thief. You owe China nothing. Give nothing. The Senkakus belong to Japan, as shown below:

good China-Japen tie are of interests for anybody live in these 2 conuntries.
i don't understand why somebody so stupid to take the first step to nationalize this small island, what are all these stupid for?
石原? This guy is to be crucified if something happen between Japen and china, which may bring people of the 2 nations into a nightmare.

lachance, think about this. There was a map produced by Japan in as early as 1783 which marked Diaoyu islands as the same colour as Chinese Mainland. Even more dubious is that Japan, China’s neighbour, happened not to know the island’s existence until it’s late 1800s survey to “incorporate” the islands when there were nagivational maps marking the islands by Portuguese, French sailors, and more credibly the British Navy in 1877. Why did Japan conduct surveys in 1895, pretending it didn't know of the island's existence two hundred years beforehand? There are more contradictory evidences presented by Japan that prove the islands belong to China.

You were also wrong in your prediction about China. You didn’t notice that all these talks about wars and terrorisms that create fear throughout the world happened to intensify after the US invaded Iraq and Afghan. Did you ever see China invade another country with only a suspicion of terrorism as a reason? Evidence has shown that China responds only when it is provoked. And, you were right that the US and Japan were in it together. But, the US has a lot more to gain from the sale of weapons and trade pacts. “Pivot to Asia” is meant to protect the US strategic and self-interests, it didn’t care about the prosperity of the region at all. And, Japan cannot climb out the recession without China helps, it knows that. Otherwise, J govt wouldn’t send an envoy to China and didn’t even talk about the territorial disputes.

Your comments and rebuttal to Lachance were excellent. I just wanted to add that Japan seized the Diao Yu Islands along with Taiwan during The Japan Invasion of 1895 which was an act of imperial aggression. It should have been reverted back to China in accordance with the Cairo Declaration at the end of WWII. That was as it was written in the declaration "all the territories Japan has taken from China such as Manchuria (Dongbei), Formosa (Taiwan), and the Pescadores (Penghu), shall be restored to the Republic of China." For fear of communist expansion during the cold war, United States however turned the administrative right of these islands to Japan eventually.

In my humble opinion, if China is not able to get the islands back by force now, it will do it eventually. China will continue to grow in power while Japan will continue to reduce in size economically. Japan will continue to be marginalized in regional and world politics. Abe's recent visit to Australia, Thailand and even Vietnam did not get him the supports he wanted to get. The only somewhat warmer reception he got was from the amnesiac Filipino who seemed to forget completely the atrocities committed by Japanese troops during the massacre of Manila in World War II.

In another 20 years, Japan will have less than 100 million people and 40% of its population will be over 65. Just today, there was a newspaper report stating that sales of diapers in Japan for old people have finally exceeded those for babies....LOL. Anyway, it is absolutely crazy for Abe to do what he is doing for a few small islands that do not belong to Japan in the first place. Perhaps he is using nationalism to help his voters to forget the present economic turmoils in Japan. Now he is going to manipulate the Yen's value by printing more money...but that is another topic...both the USA and Japan are so hypocritical....

China can take all the time it wants to get back these islands. The longer it takes the less pain it will cost China. Japan will just die of old age.

All the history and etc. Thats of the past, lets focus on the friendship of the people of both nations, a good step is understanding what actually happens in these countries rather than the ra ra popuganda from the media and our politicians.

If Abe were serious, wouldn't he at least send a member of his own party, or heaven forbid, send the message through the bl&&dy Foreign Ministry? It seems that he is trying to improve communications but not incur any political damage at home.

Problem for China is that U.S. will control most of the major oil fields in the world and the domestic energy demand in China will rise significantly in a decade where leaders of China will be forced to cooperate with U.S. By the year 2030, China will be importing 80 percent of their oil needs. Reality is China has lack of real allies. Real strategic alliance or friendship is not a commodity that can be bought and bartered casually. It is based on shared security interests, fortified with similar ideological values and enduring trust. China excels in "transactional diplomacy" romping around the world with its fat checkbook, supporting usually poor, isolated, and decrepit regimes like Angola and Sudan in return for favorable terms on natural resources or voting against Western sponsored resolutions criticizing China's human rights record. China will remain deprive of dependable strategic allies because of geography, ideology, and policy.

China is situated in one of the toughest geopolitical area in the world. It shares borders with Japan, India, and Russia; three major powers which have all engaged in military conflicts with China in the 20th century. It still has unresolved territorial disputes with Japan and India, and the Russians fear a horde of Chinese moving in and overwhelming the depopulated Russian far east. As natural geopolitical rivals, these countries do not make easy allies. Vietnam, is gearing up for another contest over disputed waters in the South China Sea. And just across the Yellow Sea is South Korea, historically a protectorate of the China, but now firmly an ally of the U.S. China's growing assertiveness on territorial disputes in the South China Sea caused Southeast Asian nations to realize that their best security bet remained the U.S. At the last East Asian Summit in Bali in 2011, most of the ASEAN countries spoke up in support of U.S. position on the South China Sea. Which allies in Asia really supports China? Maybe only North Korea?

Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar have supported China too. Pakistan also a ally of China. Politically China will not get all the way as what she wants. However It has a market power for economic clout. You have mentioned many Asian nations. All of the Asian nations have oversea Chinese diaspora for pursuing China strategic interest like Jews lobbied Congress for Israel interest.

Russia and Myanmar are enjoying selling their resources to China. Russia and China also have Shanghai treaty for strategic counter balance. They have settled their border dispute already. Unlike US, PRC is not interested in policing around globe and lecturing others. Their interest is making money and getting back some of their territory.

I have seen many doom sayers prediction about doom and gloom of China. Such as Coming collapse of China. However it will not happen suddenly as they wished for. It may not be their life time. The biggest problem for China is feeding the mass population. Second biggest problem for China is not enough female for producing off spring. If China collapse, it is not because of external problem. It will be caused by internal problems of environmental damage, demographic time bomb, corruption and unbalance wealth distribution.

China is pushy and demanding however it has limitation. That dispute have existed since 1960s and they still have not used force yet. They have waited HK for 100 yrs. If there is no media exposure of politician act, they may wait for 10000 yrs for settlement.